Introduction

Ever since I can remember, I have loved food. I loved gathering as a family in the kitchen each evening to help my mom with dinner. I vividly remember being a little girl and always offering up my services as her little sous chef. I would help dice tomatoes for her homemade sauce and roll out the pizza dough she made from scratch. Sitting down at the dinner table every night with my parents and siblings ranks among the fondest of my childhood memories, so to me, food = family.

If you haven’t already guessed, I’m an Italian girl, which serves as an inspiration for many of my dishes, but definitely not all. Life was pretty simple in the small town where I grew up, but in the best way. Have you ever seen Friday Night Lights, the show about the little football-obsessed town in the middle of nowhere? That’s basically Celina, Texas, in a nutshell. We didn’t have easy access to all the entertainment and amenities Dallas—the closest big city—had to offer, so dinner with my loved ones was something to which I genuinely looked forward. I love my hometown and its strong sense of community. It holds an incredibly special place in my heart, and it was there that my love for cooking blossomed.

Home-cooked meals were definitely the norm when I was growing up. I didn’t know much else outside of Celina’s only real restaurant, an infamous burger joint called Burger Fixins, and trips into the city for special occasions. I used to love loading into my dad’s car on weekends to go to Dallas to shop for groceries. While my mom does most of the cooking, my dad was, and still is, the ultimate grocery shopper. We’d fill the shopping cart until it was overflowing to feed our family of five for the week. I especially loved having a say in what was going to be on the menu.

Although I loved cooking with my mom as a kid, I don’t think I truly appreciated a home-cooked meal as much until my freshman year at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. About halfway through the semester, I was beyond sick of eating not-so-tasty cafeteria food and going out to eat. I was so excited when I moved into my first apartment as a sophomore because I had my very own kitchen. Finally, I could cook dinner for myself—that’s where my interest in cooking really ignited. I very quickly, and happily, became the girl who cooked for all of her friends. I absolutely loved feeding them and experimenting in the kitchen. We’d all grab a plate of whatever I had whipped up and gather around the TV to watch our favorite trashy reality TV shows. It was then that I realized I had a true passion and found myself collecting cookbooks, watching Food Network in my free time, and trying all sorts of new recipes. I was like a mad scientist discovering new techniques and flavor combinations in my kitchen every week, and I haven’t stopped since.

Another love I discovered in college was my husband, Clayton! We met while both students at TCU, and you’ll see me refer to him a lot throughout this book. After graduating, we moved to Austin, the capital of Texas, to start careers in politics. Each day after work, I would come home to make dinner, no matter what was going on. It was my favorite part of the day, and Clayton’s too. My obsession with creating new recipes and trying new things was not slowing down, but the thought of a career in food had still never crossed my mind. Then came another life love that hadn’t crossed my mind yet either—a baby.

Here we were, both young and just starting our careers, now with a baby on the way. What was next for us? I knew Clayton was my person—and Clayton knew I was his—far before I found out I was expecting. We knew we would get married eventually, so we thought, why not speed things up a bit? We did just that. We packed up our things and closed the chapter on our life together in Austin. We moved back to the Dallas–Fort Worth area to be closer to family, and not too long after our move, our sweet angel Sutton was born. It was this moment that changed my life forever in a way that I could’ve never imagined.

I was a new, young, stay-at-home mom, and I loved nothing more than being at home with Sutton. I was searching for work that I could do from home. I dipped my toes in the family real estate business but knew it wasn’t for me. However, it was while I was working at my dad’s business that I created The Defined Dish, a blog that I used as a creative outlet and an easy way to share my original recipes with friends and family.

Fast-forward a bit, and Clayton and I were blessed with a second beautiful daughter, Winnie. Now with two kids in tow, my life had changed dramatically, and although I was the happiest I could ever have been, I also quickly found myself struggling with something I’d never experienced before—postpartum anxiety. This was all very new and scary to me, especially having grown up anxiety-free. I really didn’t know how to manage it, so I was willing to try anything to help me cope with this feeling.

Enter Madison, my younger sister, who had just completed her first round of Whole30. She raved about her fantastic results and talked about how clear her mind felt. She encouraged me to do some research, and I found testimonial after testimonial about how the Whole30 helped others manage their anxiety. I knew I had to give the program a try. Thank the good Lord I did, because my life was forever changed.

The Whole30 program had incredible cognitive benefits for me. Not only did I find that the food I was consuming before was triggering my anxiety (*cough* sugar!), but over the course of 30 days, I realized the importance of self-care. As a new mom, I constantly felt buried, tending to everyone else’s needs before my own. After starting the Whole30 program, I began dedicating the time I needed to my own mental and physical health. I quickly realized this didn’t make me selfish but, in fact, it gave me the energy I needed to be the best mom, wife, daughter, sister, and friend I could be.

I completed my first round of Whole30 in 2015. I felt the best I had in years and knew I wanted to make this new way of approaching food a part of my everyday life. I began making easy swaps and using compliant ingredients to create delicious, wholesome meals. I posted my recipes on The Defined Dish, and I couldn’t believe how many people loved them. My recipes were actually making a difference in other people’s daily lives, which made me so happy. It reminded me of that feeling I would get helping my mom put a meal on the table for my family when we were kids. For me, food is more than just what fuels your body. Food brings joy into our lives, because with food we make friends, we share special moments with our loved ones, and we are reminded to count our blessings.

As far as my life after Whole30 goes, my Food Freedom is really something that ebbs and flows. Fortunately, I don’t have any serious food intolerances or allergies. I choose to eat clean, real-ingredient foods simply because they make me feel good, and when I feel good, I can do great things. I love being able to indulge here and there and not feel guilty about it or punish myself. I feel strongly that my relationship with food isn’t just about me—it’s also about the example I’m setting for my two young girls. I hope that through my daily practices of self-love, I serve as a fantastic role model as I teach them to nourish their bodies the way that they deserve, while also supporting a healthy balance without deprivation. I never want them to live in a world where they punish themselves for eating too much pizza!

As you peruse my book, you will find a little bit of everything. These recipes are all inspired by experiences I’ve had in my lifetime. The Mom-bo Italiano chapter is loaded with inspiration and recipe remakes from my mom’s Italian family. The Southern Charms and Tacos y Más chapters are influenced by where I was born and raised and the things I grew up eating. The rest are filled with foods I’ve discovered through travel, in restaurants, or via friends or family that I’ve adapted in my own kitchen to meet the needs of my family and our taste buds.

I am so grateful to be sharing more recipes for you to enjoy through this labor of love. I hope you enjoy cooking these recipes in your kitchens as much as I do in mine!